The Last Gift
by TheyCallMeTheJoker
Summary: His father died trying to protect him. When he failed, his mother gave her life to give him a chance. When he learned of the truth, he found the last thing both of them left him. And then, he used it to perish his enemies. His name is Harry Potter... and he is about to become the third king on a giant chessboard they call 'Magical Britain'.
1. Chapter 1

31 October, 1981

"Lily! Take Harry! Collect everything important! Quickly! He is coming! Voldemort is coming! I can feel the intrusion in the wards!" Shouted a dark haired man as he jumped from the comfy armchair, the book he was reading flipping to the floor.

"What? But that means Peter…" After several seconds, a red haired woman ran downstairs, her hair wet from the shower she was taking and all over the place.

"There is no time to think about that, Lily" James interrupted his wife, getting his wand from the pocket of his robe. Waving it, he quickly made a large cabinet that was hiding in the corner of the room visible. As James opened, the so called "Doomsday Box", his eyes spread over all the artefacts, they had gathered over the years; he smiled, Voldemort and his friends were going to get a nasty surprise when he used some of his toys.

"James, what are you doing?" Lily asked her husband, who was hastily digging through the cabinet, clearly looking for something. "I will slow them down, honey. I can feel death eater presence all around the village, we are surrounded. I will buy you enough time to get the cloak from upstairs and hopefully escape…" he replied, putting on bracelets with inscribed crimson runes on them "Aha! Found you, you little buggers!" James said as he took two small metallic balls out of the box and put them in his pockets.

"But what about you?" Lily asked, her voice weak.

James turned around to her, putting on a protective amulet which burned with blue fire. Smiling reassuringly, he said "I'm going to be fine, hun. Do you really think with all this toys, I can't take the Dark Lord and his dogs?"

"Yes, but…"

"There is no time, Lily, now go! Get Harry, I think the cloak was somewhere in the closet. Hide under it and run." He quickly closed the distance between them and gave her a last quick kiss, before heading out to meet his unwanted guests.

Lily took one last look at him, before turning away and running upstairs.

"Well, let's get the party started…" James muttered to himself as he put a concealment charm on himself.

Quietly, but quickly moving through the fields of the Potter Manor, James found the group of death eaters quickly moving through the extensive gardens, right towards were Lily was. Cursing under his breath, James knew he had to intercept them before, they reach the walls of the manor, where fighting them with his current setup would be quiet difficult.

Forgetting the concealment techniques, James ran to the group of death eaters, taking the metallic spheres out balls out of his pockets, before snapping them in his fists. The balls snapped, cutting through his hand, making his hands glow vibrant red, before breaking into unnoticeable mist which healed his small wounds and covered his entire body like armour. Scowling, rather brutishly, James finally reached his opponents. "Just in time…" he thought to himself as the walls of the manor stood tall behind him.

Looking at the garden, James finally saw the group, he was looking for; 22 death eaters, who wore simple black robes and masks. Understanding that the enemies in front of him were complete newbies, James frowned slightly; it was clear that they had back up and it was somewhere close.

Scanning through the landscape of the Manor once again, James noticed a group much a bigger group, entering the wards. Quickly calculating in his mind, he realized that he had about ten minutes to get rid of the hooded figures in front of him, before their probably more skilled backup arrived, James knew that he had no time to waste.

"Hey, Clowns in black!" James taunted, attracting the group's attention "Did you get lost? Azkaban is the other way! But don't worry… I will help you get the justice you deserve"

The group of death eaters turned to him, without a reply. Taking the positions they practiced many times, with 11 wizards forward and 11 in the back, the death eaters started their attacks.

"Crucio!" the front row of the death eaters shouted, sending sick-looking yellow spells towards James, while the second row quickly stepped forward rising powerful shields.

To the death eaters' surprise, their target did not even try to evade the lethal dosage of spell they send his way. To their even bigger surprise the man who supposed to be on the ground shacking and screaming in pain, took the spells, smirked and said "What happened? Having problems finishing? if you know what I mean… Why don't you try again?"

The death eaters repeated their actions from before, only this time, they shouted "Avada Kedavra!".

And again, the supposed unblockable curses were simply absorbed, making death eaters look at each other with shock. One of them stood in the corner of their formation, probably the leader, quickly commanded "Don't panic, He can't last long like this… fire all at once, at my command… FIRE!"

And again the green spells were simply absorbed, however this time a blue fire covered the man who just nodded to himself.

"My turn" The man stated, darkly, feeling the he had gathered enough power. Swinging his wand over his head, felt the bracelets burn into his hand as he conjured a giant, flaming whip which cut through the powerful shields and decimated the death eaters' front line. Panicking, the death eaters broke formation and began to spread around the man, whose eyes were burning with fire.

Still sending dangerous spells, although not unforgivables, at what looked like a spawn of the demon, himself, the hooded figures were quickly losing their numbers advantage.

"So? This isn't as easy as killing defenceless muggles or taking someone 10 to one is it?" James asked, ignoring another wave of spells, while swinging his whip once again at his enemies, the smell of burned flash hitting his nostrils, ones more.

Quickly, understanding that the man in front of them was invincible to common magic and even became stronger with every spell they threw at him, the leader of the, now five man group shouted "Stop!"

"And why would you do that? Do you think that the Aurors, which by the way, are going arrive any moment, will give you mercy?"

"Dream on, you blood traitor." Replied the leader, he was hoping that his lord and the backup were getting close to them "Don't hope for the help from the Aurors. Anti-apparion shields we raised aren't letting anyone in or out… Better give up, before it is too late. The Dark Lord is going to kill you for this show no doubt, but your mudblood wife and son may survive… My lord is very interested in all those artefacts you found over the years…"

"Well, he is not getting them… just like I'm not getting my Aurors, I guess." James interrupted the man "But that means one thing… I will have to kill you all… and you know what? I'm not even sad about it."

Smiling a feral smile, James raised his whip one last time, killing all the death eaters who were careless enough to group up around their leader who tried to dodge the attack, but was not fast enough… the man's burned hand, now, lied on the grass, motionless.

Falling to his knees, the man grabbed the burned end of his right hand with his left hand and screamed from pain that ripped through his body.

When suddenly, the death eater heard a calming, soothing voice say "Stand up, my loyal death eater… today, you proved me, your loyalty… by the time this is over… expect yourself to be the part of my inner circle…"

The man turned behind himself to see his master appear from behind the shadows of the gardens.

"My Lord, I tried…" The man said, standing up, shakily "I really tried…"

"And you will be rewarded for your efforts…" Voldemort stopped in surprise as one of his most promising followers eyes turned glassy. Gasping for his last breath, the death eater fell dead.

"Not a chance in hell!" Said James Potter calmly, his wand, still emitting a green light of a killing curse.

"Bravo! Potter! Bravo!" Voldemort said, stepping over the dead body of his already forgotten follower "You just slaughtered many of my well-trained men, but you also used dark battle magic while at it… Not good, Potter, not good…" Voldemort waggled his finger at the supposed 'good' wizard "What will Dumbledore say, hmm, Potter? or the Ministry? I did not know that aurors were allowed to cast unforgivables…"

"Slaughter? You of all people have no right to judge me." James replied, his voice calm "And if anyone will understand me, it will be Dumbledore… or you have forgotten how he killed 50 of your men and then escaped when you found the location of his laboratory? As for the black magic… the fact that I'm using it, does not mean I'm like you... The executioner's axe may cut the heads of innocent in the wrong hands… but in the right hands it can administer justice… it only depends on the person who is using it." James continued their conversation, trying to win more time for Lily to escape.

"That does not matter, Potter" Voldemort smirked "You can't dig in dirt without becoming dirty… Sooner or later… if you survive this night, of course… you will feel the call of your dark side and it will consume you."

"It all depends on the goal, Tom" James said, looking at every motion that Voldemort made. "Unlike you… I can control the dark side of my soul."

"Don't call me that name!" Voldemort hissed, angrily, before quickly regaining the control over his emotions "You already surprised me, tonight… so surprise me, again. Give me what I came here for and I will leave… or even better, join me, Potter! I saw your eyes when you killed my men… you liked it! We both, we are the same… predators, we can't eat grass, we crave for blood. You are almost a dark wizard, already… Join me and stand tall above all of the weak… stand above the morals the weak willed fools made… Feel the power of controlling fate… Just think about it, me and you, we can…"

"Forget it" James said, his words dropping, like a knife of the guillotine "You and me… there is too much between us. Too many who were killed by you and your people… too many of my friends, acquaintances and even people I don't know about… I agree, I'm a predator with the dark side, but I did not become one because I wanted to. I become one to protect the once who I love… and yes, killing my enemies makes me happy… but only because when I kill an enemy I know, I save many more lives than I take. Yes, I'm a predator, but the predator only kills, when he is hungry… You and your followers on other hand… are nothing, but mindless beasts, which send death everywhere they go for fun and entertainment. And people like you… you can't change them… you can only do one thing to fix them… destroy them."

"Potter…" Voldemort took out his wand "I gave you a chance, a chance for mercy. You declined it. So let me tell you what is going to happen. First, I'm going to kill you… it is going to be a slow and a painful death… and then I'm going to work on your family. You mudblood wife is going to be raped countless times by my men… she is still young and fresh, right? And your son… him, I will take in myself and I'm going to tutor him and I will turn him into monster, next to which even Bella is going to look human… You will be so ashamed of him… that even, in hell, you will want to hang yourself."

"Am I supposed to scream "NOO!" and attack you without thinking?" James scowled "Do you not think of the other path? In which I am, may be even at the cost of my life, going to turn you into dust for which I will be given the Order of Merlin of the highest quality and the whole world will become at peace?"

"Order of Merlin?" Voldemort asked, chuckling, slightly "You wouldn't even have a grave Potter." Voldemort stated, snapping his fingers. Seven death eaters with high quality robes and silver masks appeared out of the shadows.

"Kill him." Voldemort ordered to them, lazily "But do it, slowly... make him beg for mercy."

"Crucio" Seven wizards said, calmly, stabbing their wands towards the man.

Ignoring this spells, James send the flaming whip towards one of them… this time, however, the whip bounced off on the impact, only slightly burning the clothes of death eaters. It was clear that the higher ranking death eaters wore defensive amulets and that his whip was effective, no further.

Understanding that he did not have much time, James put away his wand and started chanting, the most powerful spell he knew in an attempt to survive.

Seeing that their opponent was on full defensive, the death eaters only quickened their attacks, sending spell towards the whispering man non-stop.

Feeling his back against the wall, James finally felt that he collected enough energy from the manor around him to cast the spell. Raising his wand, James shouted with strong voice "DUGGURRMORRE!"

The grass under James feet turned to ashes; his wand that served him for years, was unable to channel the power that was pushed through it and like a bright star at the end of its cycle exploded and broke into million pieces… And then the spell started working.

Eight ghostly claws were realized from James' abdomen and dashed towards Voldemort and his followers. Voldemort managed to raise his hand and shout something before the claw reached him, but even then, he fell to the ground as the claw projectile reached him. Around him, his loyal death eaters laid dead, their blood spilling everywhere while their insides turned out and flew all over the place.

Left alone on the battlefield, stood James Potter, who didn't look better than the people he just killed. The ancient spell completely drained him. He, at only twenty just aged to look like a seventy year old man. Dropping to his knees from the exhaustion, he send the fountain of blood the last look, before turning around and whispering "I did it… I actually did it…"

Smiling at his victory, James rose, shakily, before screaming out of his lungs "LILY! I DID IT! I ACTUALLY…" James stopped, feeling that something was amiss.

"Avada Kedavra!" a green spell hit the celebrating man in his back, making him drop down like a doll. The victorious smile stayed still on his frozen lips.

"No Potter, there is only one way this is going to play out: my way." Voldemort hissed, his voice full of anger.

"Get ready, mudblood… we are about to play a game.

His fun was only beginning.

* * *

Lily ran through the corridor of the west wing of the Potter Manor with her baby in her arms, covered by the shadow of her husband's invisibility cloak. Running past the windows she saw the brightest flash, yet come from the garden. Ignoring the feeling of dread and worry that quickly settled in her stomach, Lily continued moving, focusing on the goal in front of her: saving her child.

Finally reaching the doors that led outside, Lily reached the handle and pushed it down, but it did not bulge. Cursing under her breath, Lily took her wound out and casted "Bombarda!". A bright spell flew towards the door… but as it was about to impact, it fizzled and vanished.

Confused, Lily tried a different spell with a similar result. Feeling her throat dry up, Lily turned back to the corridor, her eyes moving around erratically, searching for a way to escape. Dashing towards the wall, she picked up a large silver torch and bashed it against a large window, only for it to bounce off.

Grunting in frustration, Lily adjusted her grip on Harry and started running back to her study in hope that there would be something that could break the shields in her collection. Reaching the room, she closed the door, pointed her wand to it and said "Carvi"

As the magic fortified the door physically and magically, Lily put Harry on her rather large study table, which was covered with parchments and papers. After making sure he was still a sleep, Lily quickly moved herself towards a large closet. Dispelling protections, Lily opened it and looked inside; it was filled with amulets, magic wands, staffs, bones, metallic disks, letters and many, many scrolls.

"Not this... this is not going to help either… this is too weak…" Lily mumbled as her panic grew; she couldn't find anything to help her and her son.

Suddenly, she heard a loud voice say behind her "Explodius!".

The shockwave that followed, snapped Lily back to the reality. Dashing back to Harry she tried for last time to apparate him and herself out, but it was a pointless attempt; the anti-apparition wards still stood strong.

"Explodius!" The voice hissed again, brutally battering at the door with a spell, slowly but surely breaking the door's fortified lock.

As another shockwave ran through the room, Lily saw a large, blue, sport bag drop from one of the top shells.

Lily looked at the large bag, her eyes widening as she remembered the item that hid within. Lily felt a cold shiver run down her back at the thought of the item, her eyeballs turning into black voids, for a single second.

Thinking about her options, Lily realized that there was the only way Harry is going to survive; she had to do what was required.

With her determination, replacing disparity, Lily flicked her wand, pushing the carpet and all the furniture away from the centre of the room. Dashing to the bag Lily opened it, taking out an item, wrapped in leather which looked suspiciously like a sword and a scroll which described the ritual she was about to perform. Opening the scroll, Lily pointed her wand at the floor and started burning the copy runes into the floor. Upon finishing the runic complex; two circles with runes making the perimeter, Lily took sleeping Harry and laid him in the center of a smaller circle.

Taking the wraps, Lily removed the covers from the top of the sword, revealing a small but extremely sharp point which Lily used to quickly cut a lightning-looking scar into her babies forehead. The boy's face quickly got red from the blood that spilled from the cuts.

Harry woke up and started crying in pain.

"I'm sorry, baby, I'm sorry, but mummy has to do this." Lily said, her hands shacking slightly. In one move, Lily removed the rest of the wraps that hid the blade, revealing what at the first glance looked like a simple, but well-made Japanese Katana.

Using the blood that dripped from the wounds of her little baby, without touching the blade, Lily drew a series of symbols on the flat side of the blade which were quickly absorbed by the sword.

At the same time, Voldemort was not resting. The Dark Lord was quickly losing his patients, hammering at the door with his strongest spells. It was clearl that the enchantment Lily put on the door would not hold much longer.

Moving towards a larger circle which was covered by runes, Lily picked up the scroll and started chanting in a deep, hissing voice. The sounds she made, almost felt sharp, cutting the air in the room, making the candles in the room flicker. Each word that came from Lily's mouth connected with the screams of her baby, combining into a terrible and sinister song.

And the longer she read, the stronger the evil presence in the room became. The shadows in the room which started moving in the temp with Lily's words, slowly, swirled their way towards the small runic circle in the middle of the room.

And then, suddenly, everything went quiet.

No longer chanting, Lily removed the wraps which covered the sword and picked it up. Adjusting the blade so that the sharp end pointed right underneath her left shoulder, Lily turned around and gave a last look to her son. Her eyes reflected everything; her hate, her determination, her well hidden fear… but also love and care.

"Live, Harry" She said her last words, and thrust the sword into her own heart.

The sword easily pierced right through her and came out of her back, creating a fountain of a red, arterial blood, which quickly covered the floor, hiding the glowing runes as the ritual completed itself.

Lily took a last gasp of air, before falling to the ground, face forward, making the sword's blade go even deeper into her.

Behind her a small baby cried, somehow understanding the meaning of what had just happened.

"EXPLODIUS!"

Entering the room quickly, Voldemort raised his shield, preparing for a fight. What he saw however surprised him.

"Bah" Voldemort voice sounded abashed, but happy "I hope you see this, Potter?" Voldemort laughed "Your mudblood wife is so weak and pathetic, she chose to commit suicide and leave your son in the hands of fate. Ha! Mother's love is the strongest power in the universe, they said? Ha! Just wonderful…" Voldemort laughed, shaking his head, slightly.

Looking around the room, Voldemort saw the cabinet with artefacts. Picking up a few, Voldemort muttered to himself "Good, very good. After some tweaks, this trinkets will serve me well…" The hooded figure was very happy with his findings "Only this crying brat left… I'm sorry, Potter, but I don't need your son, even if I turn him into my servant."

"Avada Kedavra!" The green flame of a spell flew towards the baby and hit him.

Or did it?

The sword that sheathed itself in Lily suddenly came to life, jumping in the air, blocking the path of the curse, before redirecting it towards the stunned and confused Voldemort.

The spell hit the man right into his chest.

"NO!" Voldemort roared, before exploding in a bright light, leaving only ashes behind him.

The sword that just saved little boys live, flew out the window and dropped on the tall grass, invisible to anyone who was not searching.

* * *

Lying on his bed, a teenage boy opened his eyes, waking up from his dream. His tearing eyes were filled with determination.

* * *

A/N

This chapter is a combination of the two chapters which were posted before. (Thanks to Mussing Soul for the advice on combining both chapters)

So, i guess i will repeat what i said last time i uploaded, this is a first chapter of the story. I always found the way Lily and James died in "canon" very disappointing. We were made to believe that they were "great wizards"(this is a reply to that reviewer who asked a question about this) and that they are great fighters (you have to be, you can't escape Voldemort 3 times if you are not a good fighter; 1 time can be luck, 2 times can be coincidence, but 3 times is a pattern), so i decided to make my take on how it went, while also setting up my story.

I also realise that James may look overpowered in this prologue, but i intend on making every wizard very powerful (not just Dumbledore, Voldemort and Harry) , so the playing ground will be equal (And not just the "good" guys, but bad guys as well.

Also, it would not be Harry just destroying both Dumbledore and Voldemort; in most stories it feels like Harry is playing chess against no one, since Voldemort and Dumbledore are usually just so passive, letting Harry do whatever Harry wants. In this story all of them would make their own moves (and it would not be a dumb attack on diagon alley that accomplishes nothing, either; Voldemort while bloodthirsty, will not be a stupid psychopath who just wants to kill; i will try to give him a proper motivation. Same with Dumbledore, he would not be a pacifist; no in this story i hope to make him a general that commands his troops into the battle.)

And i hoped you noticed that death eaters are actually trained group of fighters as well; they used formations and such... while of course many would argue that they just used unforgivables and did not really showed any duelling skills, i would argue that they used most powerful weapon in their arsenal. Same with the order.

Thank you for reading. TheyCallMeTheJoker...

Ps. I hope my English isn't too terrible. I have a beta now and his edits were a huge help.


	2. Chapter 2

Pouring water over his palms, Sirius Black gave a long look to a bathroom's mirror; it had become a ritual of his, ever since he broke out of Azkaban. He did it, to make himself remember that he had not lost his sanity while being surrounded by dementors and that he was still, in fact, the Sirius Black, one of the Marauders of Hogwarts.

Staring at his reflection, Sirius couldn't help but admire his looks that he had somehow kept during his years of stay in Azkaban. He still had his trademark hair, which curled down and framed his face, in the fashion that only the Black family members could achieve. His eyes, which had all the colours of smoke, shone brightly, because of the reflection of the candle, which was placed behind the mirror. Combined with his smooth, tanned skin, all of his features made him look roguishly handsome.

Smiling slightly, Sirius washed his face and made his way down to the kitchens, where he found Molly Weasley pouring porridge from a very large pot into many bowls.

"Good Morning, Molly." Sirius said, picking up a spoon from one of the drawers. Taking one of the bowls in his hands, Sirius sat down and started his breakfast.

"Good Morning, Sirius" The plump redhead with chocolate, brown eyes greeted him, heating up a cattle with her wand. Pouring the steaming water into one of the cups, Molly pushed it towards Sirius and asked "Coffee?"

"Yes, Thank You." Sirius replied, taking the cup in his hands.

Finishing his breakfast, Sirius thanked Molly, one more time and left the kitchen. Whistling a happy tune, Sirius made a move towards the roof to feed Buckbeak, a hippogriff which Sirius quickly befriended, after being alone for months.

As he made his way upstairs, Sirius saw his godson – Harry, descending downstairs. As the he moved towards the room, Sirius scanned through the boy.

His godson didn't look good. The boy's posture looked slumped and fragile as if he was an old tree with far too much weight placed on its trunk. His rather handsome face expressed a concerned grimace and was also puffy, which made Sirius wonder if the boy had another sleepless night. Proving his point, the boy, indeed, had large blue bags under his, beautiful, emerald-looking eyes.

Thinking that the boy might need some cheering up or may be someone to talk to, Sirius took a step forward and called "Harry!"

The boy stopped his slow, almost brooding walk to the kitchen, turned his head around and leveled his eyes with the older man's face. "Ah, Sirius… Glad, I met you here… We need to talk."

"What about?" Sirius asked, tilting his head to the right, in question. The fact that Harry wanted to talk was unexpected. His godson had a bad habit of bottling up all the bad things, he had on his mind; sometimes, it took several weeks of coaxing the boy through letters and floo calls to get, even the smallest, details out of him.

"My parents" Harry said, his eyes darting from left to right "Let's go to Buckbeak's room, I don't want anyone hearing us."

"Don't you want to eat?" Sirius questioned, gesturing his hand to the kitchen.

"It can wait."

Slightly confused, Sirius followed the boy, who was making his way towards the 'stables', where the hippogriff stayed for past, several month. Opening the trap door to the top of the house, Harry entered the room and bowed to the proud animal. Sirius, who was still wondering what was all of this about, mimicked Harry's action and asked "So? What do you want to ask?"

"Who were my parents, Sirius?" Harry questioned, going straight to the topic and not fooling around.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, his confusion growing every second. Giving a strained laugh, he answered "Your parents are Lily and James Potters…"

"No, Sirius, I meant who were they? What did they do, after Hogwarts? What was their job? What did they do during the war? You know…" Harry trailed off, picking up and throwing the hippogriff a ferret, who graciously caught it midair and devoured it, in one gulp. Collecting his thoughts, Harry continued "As much as you told me about your school days together, you told me nothing about what happened to them during the war… or what happened to you, for that matter. I mean everyone in the order calls them heroes and great people, but no one tells me what they did to deserve such reputation."

Understanding that it would be a long talk, Sirius conjured him-self and his godson two comfortable armchairs, before sitting on one of them. Scratching the back of his head, Sirius started "When we finished school, the war was a hot, burning mess, already. Dumbledore and Voldemort were really going at each other and magical England was… well, let's just say unstable. Me, Remus, Peter, James and Lily didn't really want to get mixed up in the whole thing." Sirius sighed, rubbing his temples "You may say we were cowardly… but we really had nothing to fight for. At that point in time, it looked like Dumbledore was going to win the war; he slowly wrestled the Ministry away from the death eaters. The Order of Phoenix, which at the time, consisted of powerful veterans who fought with Grindelwald was destroying Voldemort's less experienced army. We were young and were not worrying about it much… to us, it looked like a waste of our potential to get ourselves mixed up in the war, since even if we won the consequences of it, would probably destroy us; we didn't know how it felt, losing someone and we didn't want to learn how it felt, either. So we did the only thing, logical to us, at the time: we, with help of your grandparents, started preparing for an extended trip to Egypt, for research purposes."

Furrowing his eyebrows, slightly Sirius continued "However, it was not meant to be… Just a week before, our planned departure, the biggest massacre that Magical England witnessed during the first war had happened. I hate to say this… but it was a moment of total tactical brilliance from Voldemort. I wouldn't go into many details, but in a nutshell, Voldemort and his group of about one hundred death eaters attacked Azkaban. His presence made Aurors to move all their reserves to protect the prison. Meanwhile twenty or so of his smaller groups which were led by Veteran death eaters attacked pressure points of Dumbledore's Allies. Their objective was to damage property, not murder and they were very successful: Longbottom's gardens and greenhouses were burned to ashes; McKinnon's Potion Laboratories were destroyed; Amos Diggory had lost his broom factory… and those are only the big once. Many of Dumbledore's supporters became bankrupts in a day… But the biggest lost to me, James, Lily and Remus was the death of your grandparents, Harry."

Sirius sighed, lightly as he remembered his best friend's parents who showed him kindness in what probably was the hardest point in his life, but he continued with a strong voice "This put a complete halt to our plans. The war, suddenly, became personal… It also became clear that Dumbledore was at disadvantage, he lost too much support and resources, because of the attack."

Sirius stopped talking and pondered about what he should say next for a second, before continuing "After the death of your grandparents, James really changed. He closed in himself and locked himself up Potter Manor. I'm not sure what happened during that point of his life, but I'm sure he was doing some kind of research in the Potter Library. After a month or so of complete isolation, he returned, asking me and Remus to join the Order of Phoenix. Me and Remus, just like James, wanted revenge… so we accepted."

Throwing another unfortunate ferret to the carnivore half-bird, half-horse, Sirius continued "Dumbledore accepted us, rather quickly; at that point, he already lost most of his financial backing and many of his experienced fighters were picked off one by one in the battle, so accepting us, solved some of his problems… The more I think about it now…It was a blessing for him, really. However, he still didn't want us on front lines, young blood and all that, so he re-purposed our trip to Egypt. Instead of just doing research, I, James, Lily and Remus were also allowed to excavate some magical sites in search of powerful artifacts. Peter was excluded because Dumbledore wanted to use his animagi talents to scout around Knockturn Alley."

A wave of nostalgia traveled through Sirius as he remembered all the reckless things they did, during their travels "I and your father usually did all of the dirty work: get in; get the item, by any means, necessary; get out. Your mother and Remus on other hand did all the nerdy things: translate; adjust; and if possible, recreate. Nasty business, really; we were basically treasure hunters and did a lot of illegal things to get the items we wanted."

"And what kind of things did you find, there?" Harry finally asked, his eyebrows connecting together as he processed the new information, given to him, at incredible rates. The dots between the real life and his dream were slowly connecting and it made Harry shiver at the implications.

Remembering many dangerous artifacts that would later cause Voldemort lots of trouble, Sirius smiled "You wouldn't believe what kind of shit we have found during our escapades… Take any of those toys and you can turn even the weakest wizard into a competent fighter who can take on even the likes of Dumbledore and Voldemort. However as with most ancient magic… the draw backs of those artifacts were usually terrible, so you wouldn't want to use them unless completely necessary. Some, of course were pretty harmless like, for example: a simple focusing devices, you put on your wand or the mirror, I gave you… others, however, were terrifying. There was that one artifact which I, using my creativity, called 'Demon's balls'" Sirius chuckled "When used, it basically gave its user incredible power, but aged him very, very quickly…" Sirius frowned as he saw his godson nodded in confirmation, as if he knew about those items. "And there were also several scrolls with spells that would make 'Avada Kedavra' look like a pillow throw in comparison. All of those goodies were constantly used by the order and aurors, during the war and saved many, many lives… Everyone knew we were the ones behind the artifacts, which made Voldemort constantly throw his troops after us."

"Say Sirius?" Harry called with little confidence; the question that he was about to ask, was going to draw the line, which if he crossed, he would never go back to. If the answer to it would be positive, Harry knew he would go all the way to find the object that took his mother's life. There would be no turning back. Taking another full second to think, Harry finally asked "Did you perhaps found a japanese katana during your journeys?"

Sirius was stunned by the question. Yes, they did found… whatever the cursed sword was, right before James and Lily went into hiding, but he was confident that they left it back in Japan, where it belonged. Scratching his forehead with concern, Sirius asked "How do you know of this, Harry?"

"So, it was all real…" Harry whispered, silently thanking Kreacher for bringing him a draught of calm, after he woke up from his dream drenched in sweat. Harry had no idea how he would have reacted to all of the new information, otherwise. Looking at Sirius with a heavy look, Harry continued "I had a dream last night… it was another of those dreams in which I see how my mom and dad died. This time, though, it was different. Instead of the usual 'Not Harry! Not Harry! Not Harry!', I saw how my dad killed thirty death eaters with the Artifacts, similar to some of those you described earlier. And then, I saw how my mom used the sword that looked like a japanese katana to sacrifice herself in some-kind of ritual which then made the sword save me from the killing curse."

"A ritual?" Sirius asked, furrowing his eye-brows. He did not know the details of the rituals which were performed with that cursed blade, however he certainly knew that none of them were pretty. Lily, who worked with the sword, alone, never allowed him, nor James and not even Remus, anywhere near the thing, claiming that it was far too dangerous for the blade to let anyone, but her near the blade.

"Yeah, in my dream, mom drew two circles which were made of runes. Then she used the sword to cut my forehead and chanted some-kind of spell, before stabbing herself with the sword…" Harry described his dream, his eyes tearing slightly "Then when Voldemort cast the killing curse, the sword jumped in front of it, making it reflect into Voldemort.

"So that is how you survived?" Sirius almost whispered, before the wave of realization went through him "So Dumbledore was wrong all along… it wasn't love… it was the sword, that's how she did it!" Sirius had a face which was akin to the face of a blind man, who for the first time in his life could see colours "Lily made two runic circles, right? Was it similar to this one?" Sirius asked, taking his wand in his hand and burning a small circular pattern on the floor. When Harry gave a positive reply, Sirius continued "She put you in one of them and then herself in the other one, correct?" As he saw Harry nod in confirmation, once again, Sirius jumped from his chair and opened the trapdoor which led to the rest of the house "We have to go Harry!"

"What? Why? Where?" Harry asked, moving after his godfather, confused.

"Because, if what you told me is true… then, Lily gave you something, using which, you can fight Voldemort with on the equal grounds. We need to go and get the sword, and we must be quick." Sirius said, making his way through the hallway.

Harry didn't like the sound of that; as much as he trusted his godfather, he didn't want to charge god-knows-where without any convincing reasoning; it didn't do him any good, before and it would not do him any good, now. So he stopped and said "Explain. Now."

Pausing in his tracks, Sirius turned his face towards Harry and asked "The sword, Lily used to protect you… it is not a normal sword. It is something else… Its origins come from the feudal Japan; in our research we couldn't find how, when or by whom it was created. However, we did found a very interesting pattern: any owner of the sword, who used it for more than a year, had committed suicide. After working with the blade for a while, it was clear to us that it was cursed. It was as if in it was draining our life force and magic. During our period in Japan, your father lost around ten kilos; I had constant headaches and could not concentrate; Lily's hair slowly started turning grey, while Remus' lycanthropy got far worse… it was so bad, in fact, we could not help him in our animagus forms, he was too aggressive. But the worst thing about it, were the nightmares… terrible, terrible nightmares… It was as if, the blade was alive… quietly whispering and asking… asking to do horrible things… asking to do what every owner of the sword did before us." Sirius shuddered even at the small thought of it "After a month or so of studying the blade, we realised that we can't work with the damned thing anymore. It was just too much. We quickly left Japan, trying to forget that the thing existed… We agreed to leave it there… but, I guess Lily thought otherwise."

Looking thoughtful, Sirius continued "Thing is, if the blade was cursed... and I'm very confident it was, then by performing the ritual you described earlier, not only did Lily transferred the ownership of the sword to you, but also took the burden of the curse on herself… which basically means, you can probably wield the sword without the need to commit Hara-kiri to pay for its service.

"But why take such risk? Is the sword this powerful?" Harry asked, his mind quickly piecing the information that was given to him together.

"You have no idea… During our Japanese expedition, our tent was attacked by thirty or so Death Eaters. It was during the full moon, so me, James and Remus were out. That left Lily, alone when they struck… the thing is, their number advantage didn't really help them" Sirius felt a light shiver travel through him as he remembered the bodies which we diced and sliced into pieces, by the furious redhead "With that sword in hand, she… Let's just say a meat grinder wouldn't have done a better job and they didn't even scratch her!"

"Do you think it will be worth the risk? Will I be able to protect my friends by using it?" Harry asked as the memory of green light hitting Cedric Diggory flashed in his mind. Shuddering at the image, Harry knew he had made his decision. He was ready to do anything to protect his close ones from the similar fate.

"Yes" Sirius replied and paused, giving the boy time to think.

Sirius's answer made Harry lose all his doubts. Taking another second, just to think everything through, Harry asked:

"What is your plan then?"

* * *

Sneaking out of Grimmuald Place wasn't that hard. An old marauder decoy and no one knew they left.

Finding the Potter Manor was harder, but not impossible; his childhood memories made it easier.

Getting through the wards of the ancient manor would have been a nightmare, however Harry's blood turned it into a cakewalk.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt, Sirius gave his surroundings a long look. As the wards around them went down, Potter Manor came into focus. It didn't change much over years of being inhabited; it still looked just as impressive as it did so many years ago when Sirius first arrived here to hide from his parents. The house still had the same high walls made out of red brick; the same large, white windows which were framed by vines and ivy; the same wooden door with an intricate, carved pattern and the very same green garden which Sirius almost burnt down when he was younger.

Looking back at Harry, Sirius smiled slightly as he saw the boy's jaw drop in shock. Waving his hand in front of Harry's face, Sirius said "Harry let's get moving! I already wasted too much time with the wards, we must get back in an hour or two before they noticed the decoy. Come on!"

"Why no one has ever told me of this place?" Harry asked, nervously fiddling with a button of his sleeve. He wasn't very angry about it, just confused. He could have live here with some magical family, if not for Dumbledore's decision to send him to the Dursleys.

"Didn't I mentioned it in one of the letters?" Sirius asked, using a tip of his wand to push the gate of the fence open "I'm pretty sure i did."

"I don't think you did... I would have remembered" Harry replied and followed his godfather, stepping his foot on the Potter grounds for the first time in a very long time. As he made his way over the brick road, Harry felt a sudden pain spread across his scar. The pain was something completely different from any other pain he had experienced before. If cruciatus felt like thousand of knife stabs, this pain was almost... calling, inviting. It was as if someone had plugged a small anchor into his forehead and started pulling Harry somewhere. A light Moan escaped Harry's lips as he felt his blood spill out of his forehead.

"What is it Harry?" Sirius jumped to him, worried.

"I can feel something... it is pulling me to the gardens..." The pain in his scar was gaining strength quickly, making it hard to talk coherently. Following the pull, Harry felt a pressure in his temples increase; after around thirty steps, Harry's head was literally splitting in half.

"Are you sure you want to go? This is your last chance to turn back." Sirius asked, putting his hand around Harry's shoulder to support him.

"Yes... it is somewhere here, Sirius... I can feel it's call..." Harry said between sharp breaths, he felt like he had a large iron anvil pushing against his chest.

Harry's strength and consciousness were leaving him with every step he took, however he didn't even thought of leaving; he had to finish this, there was no going back. He could not afford for another innocent soul to be taken because of his weakness.

Catching what felt like a second wind, Harry took another step towards the pull.

And then another step.

And another one.

Harry's pain tolerance was reaching it's limits, when his legs tied in a knot, making him fall. As his face contacted with the ground, Harry felt the glass of his glasses break and cut right into his eyes. Raising his heavy head up, Harry opened his eyes, but everything around him had blended together into a single cacophony of colours and sounds. Unable to focus on anything, Harry closed his eyes, again and continued crouching towards the pull; he didn't know how, but he knew that the sword was lying on the grass mere four meters ahead of him. He just had to get his hands on it.

At this point Harry was not breathing, it hurt too much to even try.

He pushed his legs and arms forward; every move was a challenge.

After a minute or so of struggling, Harry felt that he was only an arm length away from the sword. Reaching his arms out, millimeter by millimeter, Harry finally gripped the blade of the sword, cutting his hands. As his blood gushed from his palms, Harry felt the pain leave him. Smiling in relieve and satisfaction, Harry snapped his eyes open, revealing dark, black orbs.

And then, he remembered no more.


	3. Chapter 3

He could hear a bird tweet above him. The wind carefully touched his skin, making his hair fall on his face. The ground beneath him was surprisingly soft, it almost felt like one large pillow. His eyes still closed, Harry raised his hand to his forehead: there was no pain in his scar; in fact, he didn't feel pain to be anywhere in his body.

Bending his lips into a smile at the peace and tranquillity, Harry wondered if he died and was sent to heaven. He really didn't care, at the moment, all he wanted was to just lie down like this forever.

But it was not meant to be. Somewhere not-so-far away, Harry heard a girly scream "Look! This wasn't here the last time!"

Groaning as he felt his inner peace shattering into peaces, Harry slowly opened his eyes. As his eyelids opened, Harry felt the bright sunlight blind him for a second. Rubbing his eyes to adjust his vision with left hand, Harry searched for his glasses with his right just to realise that he could see everything with perfect clarity without them. Sitting down, Harry scanned the environment around him. He was surrounded by tall, green oak trees which seemed to be everywhere. The soft "pillow", he lay on, was actually a big pile of leafs. The place made him smile, it was calm and warm. It felt like home.

Lost in his thoughts, Harry had easily forgotten the voice that had awaken him from his 'sleep'. The voice, however, didn't forgot him.

Rushing through the leafs, their crunching noise following her, a small girl, age of seven ran towards the boy. She never saw him before, but she still knew who he was, though; her mother used to told her about him. As she got closer to the boy, she took a large leap into the air and intertwined her hands around the boy's neck.

Confused as he felt the sudden weight pressed on his shoulders, Harry turned around to see a small girl with fiery red hair and chocolate brown eyes hanging onto him for dear life. She looked vaguely familiar, but Harry couldn't quiet place his finger on where he had seen her, before.

"Who are you?" Harry asked with his hoarse voice, cutting the atmosphere of peace into hundreds of small shards. He tried to carefully lift the girl off himself, but her grasp on him was too strong and tight to allow him any movement.

"Well, aren't you a dummy?" The girl said, smiling innocently "I'm your sister of course!"

"What?!" Harry asked, his eyes bulging in shock. Looking through the girl again, Harry found a lot of similarities between her and himself. Although physically they looked quiet different, Harry could clearly see that the girl had the same springy posture, similar thoughtful gaze and even her long hair looked 'Potter-Like'.

"Rose!" Someone shouted in the distance, making the girl turn her head towards the source of the noise.

Harry's heart dropped into his stomach. If this girl was who she claimed to be, then the worried voice that boomed through the woods probably belonged to his mother.

* * *

Pushing himself up from the ground, Sirius touched the back of his head. He could feel a small stream of red liquid run down his neck. Collecting his thoughts, Sirius tried to recall what had just happened, however he could remember nothing, but the sudden push of a force that threw him into a wall of the manor as he tried to help Harry get to the sword.

Raising his head, Sirius saw a dark figure standing, it's face turned to the garden. His vision was blurry and Sirius couldn't quiet understand who stood before him; the silhouette shared many physical resemblances with Harry, but something about the shadow felt wrong in the very heart.

Suddenly, the figure made a sharp u-turn, revealing its face to the light.

It was indeed, his godson... but it wasn't really him.

Harry, the boy Sirius loved and adored was unrecognisable.

The boy in front of him had a mad, crazed grin which begun at one of his ears and ended at the other. The beautiful green eyes of his mother were gone, replaced by large, smokey, shadowy orbs which didn't allow the light to escape them. His limbs were twisted, frozen in an unnatural position. The clothes boy wore, as well as his skin were completely drenched in blood, making the katana that he held in his right hand even more terrifying. The shadows around the boys weren't normal either, they were dancing in glee at the sudden freedom to do as they wished.

 _"What have i done?"_ Sirius asked himself as the demon that was his godson made his way to him.

When the distance between them shortened to around ten steps, his godson bowed and raised the sword, shifting his posture into a battle stance. Seconds later, the boy dashed towards Sirius, slashing the blade in an upwards strike.

His eyes wide from shock at the speed with which everything had happened, Sirius moved his body to the right, dodging the attack at the last moment.

The possessed Harry smiled a predatory smile, throwing his next strike without a pause.

Jumping away from another slash, Sirius withdrew his wand from the sleeve of his robe, using his magic to make himself faster and more agile. Blocking the next strike with a brick wall, Sirius analysed his situation.

It was very clear to Sirius that he would not last physically, if the fight continued in the same tempo. His godson's first strikes were brutally fast and accurate, he didn't thought that he would be able to dodge them for much longer.. He could also feel himself being drained magically; ward-breaking took a lot out of him and he knew his magical resource would be emptied soon. Sirius also knew he cant finish the fight in few swift moves, since his opponent was faster and more agile, not allowing Sirius a single moment on the offensive. Which left only one option: he had to fool Harry into false sense of security, before unleashing one quick strike to end it. It was risky, but it was the only shot he had.

Twirling away from another stab, Sirius searched through his head trying to find any spell that would have the effect he desired in this particular situation. In his Auror years, he had read several books which described situations similar to this one, in which a single wizard with a wand in hand fought against a small group of muggle swordsman, but most of the tomes gave one simple, yet correct advice to keep the distance, while using powerful area of effect spells to disable or kill the opposition. This strategy, while applicable, felt impossible, at the moment; during the fight, Sirius tried to increase the distance several times and each and every time, the boy had caught up with him in a matter of seconds. This conclusion made Sirius delve into something he had only used in the most desperate situations: his Black heritage.

Oh yes, the Blacks had variety of spells which could have turned the tides of the battle into his favour, however after going through the ones he remembered, Sirius picked the most innocent and least dangerous one.

Still dodging and jumping away from the relentless boy, who was getting stronger and faster with every second that the fight lasted, Sirius started silently and motionlessly started on a rather simple spell, his mother taught him during his second year. The spell was quiet revolutionary, but had one giant, glaring problem: it took a minute or so of chanting non-stop to cast.

Unable to cast defensive spells, during the chant, Sirius felt how truly outmatched he was on the physical level. Every strike Harry made so far was dodged, but each slash missed just barely, in the last second, just before the blade contacted with his soft flesh. Finishing the incantation after what felt like eternity of spinning, twirling and jumping away, Sirius started patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.

But Sirius just could not find the opening. Harry fought almost like a mechanical robot; he didn't make a single move that wasn't necessary, his techniques were flawless, flowing from one into another without a pause. And it was also pretty clear that this was not even a quarter of the power that the sword could give him, since Harry's strikes were growing stronger and faster with an accelerating rate. Sirius never saw anything like this before.

Deciding that he should give Harry some more initiative to finish it, Sirius started slowing down, allowing Harry to push him into a corner. He had to lure the boy into a perfect trap: he only had one try.

Another step back and Sirius felt his back hit the wall of the manor; it was time to execute the final act. Almost in slow motion, Sirius tracked Harry's strike come at his left leg, but did nothing to dodge it. Feeling an explosion of pain as his bones cracked under the sword's pressure, Sirius screamed, making Harry believe that his opponent was defenceless. Faintly, Sirius saw his godson raise the sword for the last, life-ending strike, completely exposing himself to attacks. Realising the spell, Sirius shouted "UMBRA VIDETUR!".

Suddenly, Sirius felt himself turn into black cloud of smoke. The sword that was about pierce his most vital organ went right through, not doing him any damage. His wand still in his hand, Sirius smirked at the stunned expression which spread through Harry's face, before throwing a powerful silent sleeping spell, making the boy drop down with a loud "clank".

As his godson fell on the floor, Sirius bounded him to the wall with the strongest chaining spell, he knew, kicked away the katana and removed the boy's wand from the pocket of his pants. After making sure that Harry wouldn't be a threat after waking up, Sirius finally allowed his exhaustion catch up with him. Taking a single, small step away from the boy, he felt his injured leg lose its ground. Hitting his head against the hard stone Sirius felt his vision fade into black.

* * *

"Did I die? is this heaven?" Harry asked, wiping his tears with a sleeve of his robe as he released his mother from the hug in which he had imprisoned her for the last five minutes. He couldn't believe that she was in front of him, it must have been a dream. But his mother was right there, he had just hugged her and she didn't just disappear when he allowed her to slip away from the hug.

"No, Harry. We are inside the ' _Kage-no-Kaze'._ " The woman replied, smiling softly at her son while piercing him with a thoughtful stare. She hadn't expected to see anyone from her world, ever again, but considering Potter luck, she should have guessed something like this would happened.

"Inside of what?" Harry asked, confused.

"'Kage-no-Kaze' It is the name of the katana, you had picked up." Lily said, tilting her head to the right, trying to understand how had the boy got into the sword.

"But how can we be inside the sword?" Harry asked, giving his surroundings another astonished look. He was pretty confident that the draught of calm he drunk earlier still worked, because there was no way he would have reacted to everything without throwing a fit, other-wise.

"Well..." Lily bit her lip, trying to find the best way to describe the situation "... None of us are physically in the sword. Me and Rose are here, because our souls are bonded to it... I didn't know, but I was pregnant when Voldemort came for you... You are here mentally: this is one of the tests the sword puts its users through."

"What do you mean a test?" Harry questioned as he felt his little sister climb on his back and play with his hair. There was a weird feeling spreading in his chest... it was unusual, but at the same time felt home-like.

"You have to understand... this is not a normal sword. It is more akin to... a very dangerous animal. It is dangerous, not only to the tamer's enemies, but to the tamer too, if tamer makes a mistake. If you show even one small weakness while wielding Kage-no-Kaze, be it physical or mental, the sword will consume you like it did most of it's users before you. During my research I found that all sword wielders died, committing seppuku after ending up in similar situations: after going completely crazy; after loosing all the control over their body, becoming paralysed or after being 'kissed' in unknown circumstances..." Lily explained, each word she said brought tears to her eyes. Loosing her emotional control, she cried and whispered "I should have done something else, Harry... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I just didn't knew how else to save you... There must have been another way..."

"Mommy, don't cry." Rose jumped off Harry's back and rushed to her mother to hug her. The boy just stood there, frozen and silent, trying to understand what had happened.

"It is fine, Rose, it is fine." Lily said, trying to sound normal to keep her daughter calm. Wiping her tears off with the palms of her hands, she recollected her thoughts and continued "Where was I? Oh, right. Out of hundreds of users which the sword had, we only found two samurais who lived a long live... but even they ended their life on the edge of the Katana. It was too much of a coincidence, for it to be just a chance. After the night I was attacked, I understood why. All those deaths were results of the sword testing it's wielders... those who didn't crack under it's pressure went to live long lives." She paused, taking a deep breath "The ritual i performed was supposed to remove all of this for you... but it was rushed. It only removed the certain suicide at the end. You will still be tested the same way, every other user was... and those tests... Harry..."

A look of understanding flashed on Harry's face as his mother finished the explanation. He couldn't even think of putting himself in his mother's shoes. She saved him, only to learn that she might have given him something worse then death in return... but that decision only made him love her more. Hugging her, Harry made his decision and said "Don't worry, mom. I will go through it. I promise."

"Yeah, mommy. Harry can do it... and we will always be there for him... in the sword." A little girl said from below, making her family smile, sad smiles.

Suddenly, Harry felt heavy. His eyes were dimming and he felt his strength drain away at a rapid pace. Falling on the soft oak leafs, Harry asked "What is happening?"

"You are leaving, there is not much time." Lily said, dropping on her knees to hold her son.

"But we have so much more to talk about..." Harry said, his tongue barely moving "Mom, I promise I will get through the sword's tests. Don't worry for me. Stay at peace... Actually... I will get you out of here, mom..." Every word was becoming more and more difficult for Harry.

Her tears rising once again, Lily reached her hand, cupping his cheek "Don't Harry. Our place is here. This is where we belong now."

"Are you sure?" Harry said between his breath. Upon hearing a positive answer, he looked at his sister, smiled and asked "Take care of her for me, please?"

"I will. Take care, brother." She replied, with an uncharacteristic, adult tone in her voice.

As his last bits of consciousness left him, Harry muttered "I love you, mom... Rose..."

"We love you, Harry. Goodbye. Don't comeback."

* * *

"Where is he, now?" Severus Snape asked, barging into the office of one of the greatest wizard the magical Britain has ever seen.

The almost-ancient looking old man with a white beard, leveled his eyes with the intruder, before replying in a calm manner "He is, where he is supposed to be. In the bed of the hospital wing."

"What happened?" Severus asked, his cape waving as his magic swirled around him in anger.

"The boy had a dream about the real memory of his parents death. He saw how his mother used one of the artefacts to save him. Harry told Sirius. Sirius didn't found anything smarter to do then to go to the Potter Manor and retrieve the dangerous artefact. Just like I predicted the boy had a connection to the blade. The spirits inside the sword possessed the boy and almost killed Sirius, who was tired from all the ward-breaking and only survived by sheer dumb luck." Dumbledore said in a static manner, looking over a chessboard he had set on his desk. It didn't have any pieces on it, but it was clear that Dumbledore was playing in his head "But you know all of this. Why are you asking?"

"Because you are playing with lives, Albus! Was this part of the plan?" Severus said, throwing his hand over the board "Was this accounted for? Is this the part of the great combination?"

"One of the greatest traits of a chess player and a general is to adapt to any situation, Severus." Albus replied, airily "This was not taken into consideration while planning. But something similar was. The plan is still the same."

"WE ARE NOT PIECES ON YOUR CHESSBOARD! WE ARE PEOPLE!" Severus shouted, enraged from the old man's antics "We are never going to wait like pieces on the board, we are not entirely controlled by you..."

"And yet, you can follow orders, or can be moved into right positions, or even, if situations asks..." for a second Dumbledore stopped talking, his eyes shining, dimly behind the glasses"... sacrificed, but most importantly, you need a king. Someone to combine everyone's strengths and differences into one powerful spell. A symphony which would defeat the opposition... and if you think I'm not worth being your king... would you like a game?"

"We both know even if I win, you would still be in control." Severus said coldly, his usual, calm mask falling back on his face.

"Ah, but you answered your questioned earlier, didn't you, Severus? This is not a game of chess, this is real life." Dumbledore answered, smirking "Checkmate."

Annoyed at the old man in front of him, Severus' gave a long sigh "Fine. You are white."

"Ah, I was wondering when you will give up your stubbornness and play with me... It took so long..." Dumbledore mused, waving his hand, making a beautiful marble chesspieces appear on the board "E2-E4"

"D7-D6" Severus declared, picking up his pawn, the muggle way.

"Hmm... quiet unexpected move from you, Severus... still very predictable if you have been any other player though..." Dumbledore called, before commanding his pawn"D2-D4"

Taking a second to think on how to develop his board, the youngest potion-master of his time, decided to move his knight "Knight G8-F7"

Defending the centre of the board, bother players continued the debuts and developed their pieces. Going into mid-game, Dumbledore bent his lips into an unnoticeable smile, before saying "Severus... sacrifices have to be made sometimes... This is just how war and life are. I hope you will learn that and understand me. Rook D1-D4, takes pawn."

"What!?" Severus said, opening his eyes and leaning closer to the board. This move was not at all what he anticipated... and yet... it seemed so promising for him. Take the rook, win material, win the game. Calculating everything one more time, Severus made his call "C5-D4, pawn takes rook."

Dumbledore's grin turned larger as he saw his opponent fall into the trap "Rook E1-E7, check."

"King A7-B6" Severus replied quickly; this move from Dumbledore was anticipated.

"Queen to D4, check." Dumbledore continued his attack.

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, once again, Severus send Dumbledore a concerned gaze. The old man was giving up material left and right and Severus felt like he was falling right into old man headmaster's trap by taking all the pieces. "King to A5, takes knight."

Dumbledore's smile somehow had turned even larger as he continued his acute attack, meanwhile Severus's face started to wrinkle with concern as he desperately tried to defend with his superior numbers.

In a few moves, Severus realised that he was very close to losing. He currently had a choice between two different types of defence; one involving his king taking a pawn, while the other one offered an exchange in rooks. The second option was clearly much better at the first glace, but Severus had a feeling that this was a trap which Dumbledore had set. Making his decision, Severus picked up his king and captured Dumbledore's pawn "King to A3, takes pawn."

And it was the moment when he realised that he made a mistake, but not just now... but many moves ago when he took the rook with his pawn. It was not a big one, but it was just enough for Dumbledore had calculated everything and had moves to retake back the pieces he lost while also finishing the game. Smiling sadly, Severus moved his hand and pushed down his king, giving it to the headmaster, who smiled sadly.

"Checkmate, Severus."

* * *

"So the boy, is in the Hogwarts' hospital wing?" The greatest dark wizard in the world asked his right-hand and a friend as he looked over a simple wooden chessboard with no pieces on it "The plan worked perfectly then... didn't it Lucius?"

"Yes, my lord. I bow down to your brilliance." The man with long, white hair replied "If our intelligence is correct, the boy has the sword."

Laughing slightly, Voldemort gave the board another glace, before raising his eyes to meet the grey eyes of his right hand man "Then, we just have to wait for the sword to burn him out, removing the last threat, Dumbledore has on the board, before making our next move..." Voldemort smiled his his thin lips, before gesturing at the board "Would you like a game Lucius?"

"I'm afraid not, my lord. I'm quiet busy with getting a law which would allow werewolves roam free in the cities. I think a prospect of allowing them free roam around Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade for a ambush attacks is worth looking into."

"As you wish, Lucius. After all we both know the outcome of the game, anyway, don't we?" Voldemort asked, bending his lacking eyebrows, slightly.

"Of course we do my Lord." Lucius agreed, slipping into the fireplace. "I don't think anyone matches your brilliance at the game."

"Except Dumbledore, Lucius. Expect Dumbledore... me and him had tied in our last game, during the last war... but that is about to change. I'm going to win this time. The way he sacrifices his people is going to be the reason for his greatest downfall."

* * *

A/N

First of all, i want to say thank you to all the reviews who left their opinions on the story. It was a huge motivator and while I'm slow to write, I hope I didn't disappoint.

About the story. Lily and Rose will play very minor roles and are mostly there to explain some things while giving Harry a motivation to keep the sword and not throw it away. They will in no way come back to life or anything like that. Just wanted to make that clear; I don't like stories where people just comeback to life, unless it is the whole point of the story. I know some of you don't too, so it is the best i leave this note here, I think.

To all those who didn't understood the chess game. Dumbledore basically sacrificed a lot of his pieces and gave Snape huge advantage to get into position in which his win was inevitable. Snape fell into the trap and thus lost the game. Voldemort comments on that in his last sentence, saying that Dumbledore's constant sacrifices is his greatest weakness and that that is the way he will win against Dumbledore. I would not say anymore, since it will spoil things, but i hope you understand the idea.

To those who are interested: the game that Dumbledore and Snape play is the "Kasparov's Immortal", Kasparov vs Topalov played it in Netherlands in 1999.

If you see any mistakes, please do tell. It would improve my story drastically.

I will leave you here. Thank you for reading. TheyCallMeTheJoker...

PS: How did you like the fighting scene? Should I make them more detailed or leave more for your imagination?


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